This is dedicated to my stepfather, William Jackman, who died of cancer in late October. I miss you, Daddy.
Rating: G
Parings: Finn/Rey, Han/Leia
Mid-December 1949
“Hank, remind me of what we're doing
again.”
Hank grinned at the duo bundled up
beside him in his ancient truck The Falcon. “We're heading out on a
beautiful Saturday morning to find one of the most important of all
Christmas symbols.”
“Does this involve going to Gimbels
to get one of those huge plastic Santas that say 'ho ho ho'?” Finn
asked with a smirk as he shivered. The Falcon had no heat, and even
it did, it probably wouldn't work in that rattetrap of a vehicle
anyway.
“No, I already bought one of those.”
Hank gave them his famous snarky grin as the Falcon sputtered and
coughed its way over the Triborough Bridge. “We're going to get
Leia and Luke a very special Christmas tree for the party they're
holding at Skywalker Manor tomorrow night.”
Rey raised an eyebrow. “Hank, we
could do that in New York. Every other empty lot sells Christmas
trees at this time of year.”
“Not like the trees out in the open.”
Hank turned off the bridge, taking the sputtering Falcon through the
brownstone-lined streets of Queens. “We're going to have a real
Christmas tree this year, like our forefathers did it. Besides,” he
added with a cough, “it's cheaper.”
Rey leaned against Finn, hoping to
absorb some of his body heat and peer at the view over his shoulder.
The stone houses and stores gradually gave way to smaller wooden
houses and storefronts, and then to the new pre-fabricated homes of
white wood and metal that were just starting to be built outside of
the city. As they went further, the homes became more spread apart,
before they were replaced all together by endless groves of trees,
weathered barns, and rambling old farm houses.
Hank pulled into a field across from a
farm house. “This is it, kids!” He took a long, deep sniff.
“Smell that fresh air. Reminds me of when I made a trip from
Chicago to Minnesota to sell bathtub hooch back in 1918. Those
moonshiners out there sure lived in some gorgeous turf.”
Rey climbed out first, unloading the
saw from the back of the truck. “All right, Hank. Let's not take
the first tree we see. We have all day. It's only 9 in the morning.”
“Yeah.” Finn held an ax and a
basket. “I hope the ham sandwiches Maz packed don't freeze before
we get this tree. I'll bet our RC Cola bottles already have.”
“Aw, stop complaining.” Hank took
the other side of the saw. “There's thousands of trees out here.
I'm sure it won't take long to find one good one.”
Hank was right about that. They'd
walked for no more than 20 minutes when they came upon a fine, sturdy
little pine, with a solid thin trunk. “This one looks pretty good.”
The older man grabbed it by the trunk and shook it. “No needles
coming off, either.”
“I don't know.” Rey was inspecting
it. “The back is a little skimpy...”
“Let's just take it and go home.”
Finn was flapping his arms around his chest, still shivering. “It
has to be thirty degrees out here!”
“Fine, Big Deal.” Hank grabbed one
side of the saw. “Ok, Rey. On my count. One, two...”
There was no sound in the woods for a
few minutes after that but the saw cutting through the wood. “It's
almost done, Hank.” Rey dropped her side. “I can feel it give.”
“Move it!” Hank pushed Finn aside
as the tree toppled to the ground. “Timberrr!”
They bound the tree with twine, loaded
it into the back of the Falcon, and returned to the city. Rey almost
kind of wished they hadn't hurried. It was a lovely day, and she
wasn't entirely sure the tree would be satisfactory.
Leia was waiting for them on the porch
of Skywalker Manor when they pulled up to the curb. “I'm so glad I
closed the office today and gave Poe and me a day off.” She was
sweeping snow off the front steps. “We're going to need it. Just
decorating the tree alone will take a few hours. Luke found piles of
antique ornaments in a closet. Some of them are real hand-blown
German ornaments from before World War I.”
“We got it!” Snap and Kaydel helped
Rey and Finn get the tree into the living room. Hank quickly cut the
ropes, so Leia could see what it looked like. “How's this,
sweetheart?”
Leia's face fell. “Hank, where's the
rest of it?”
“This is it!” He shook the tree.
“See? No needles coming off!”
“But there's so many gaps!” Jessica
made a face. “You can practically see through it!”
“Yeah!” Snap stuck his head right
into the needles. “I can see right out the other end.”
“I'm afraid it simply won't do.”
Leia sighed. “You'll have to go back and get another one.”
Hank stared at his wife. “You don't
have to be so picky, you know!”
She gave him a serene smile. “I just
want our decorations to be perfect. This will be the first Christmas
open house for Skywalker Manor in 50 years. My brother's hoping to
find some prospective students for his new school.”
“Oh, fine.” Hank yanked the tree so
hard, half the needles dropped in a shower on the weathered Oriental
carpet. “Come on, kids. Let's go make the Princess happy.”
It took them a little longer to get out
of New York this time. The Triborough Bridge was clogged with noon
traffic as office workers in the city went home or to their favorite
deli for lunch. Once they got out into the suburbs, the traffic let
up considerably.
Only Rey joined Hank this time. Finn
refused to go back out, saying he was too warm to want to venture
into the snow again. She had to carry the basket of slightly soggy
ham sandwiches and carry the other end of the saw.
This time, they took a little bit
longer. Hank even insisted that they stop and eat those ham
sandwiches and sip cocoa from an old metal thermos. The woods were
cold and a little bit spooky, with the sun barely penetrating through
the trees. They looked like black brushstrokes against the soft white
snow.
Hank found the second one shortly after
lunch. “Here.” He stopped before a towering Scotch pine. “You
can't get much fuller than this!”
“Um,” Rey ventured cautiously, “do you think it'll fit in the house?”
“Sure it'll fit!” Hank hefted the
saw. “Help me with this one.”
It took longer to cut this tree down.
The trunk was thicker, and there were more branches to get through.
When the tree finally fell into the snow, they tied it up and hauled
it into the back of the Falcon.
Leia and Luke met them on the porch
this time. Luke was hanging garlands of greenery tied with bright red
bows as Leia finished sweeping. “Honey, we're home!” Hank and Rey
had a harder time carrying the huge, heavy tree. He managed to get a
hand out to wave his wife over. “Look at the big sucker we found!”
It took all four of them to get the
three through the door. Hank had to remove branches before it would
make it. Finn and Poe helped them stand the tree upright. It hit the
ceiling; the very top bent over like a flopping rag doll.
“It's too big.” Leia made a face as
she tried to wipe off her sticky fingers on a rag. “And it's
covered in sap. We wouldn't be able to touch it.”
“We could cut it down,” Rey
suggested helpfully. “It would make wonderful inside decorations.”
Luke shook his head. “Sis is right.
It's just too big for a living room.”
“Fine!” Hank threw up his arms in
defeat. “Come on, Rey. We still have some time left before it gets
dark.”
Rey was starting to know the drive to
the country almost as well as she knew her own neighborhood. With
office and factory workers having returned to lunch, the traffic was
far more manageable this time around. She and Hank only brought the
saw and thermos, leaving the basket with Leia.
“Hank, this is crazy.” She grabbed
the nearest tree. “Leia's never going to agree to anything. Let's
just take something and go home. It's starting to get dark, my
fingers are numb, and I haven't been able to feel my toes for ages.
Besides, I feel like we're being watched.”
“You're probably right.” Hank took
a whack at the tree with an ax...until something squawked at him. A
pair of beady eyes stared out of the branches. “Ok, trees don't
talk. What was...yeow!”
A hawk leaped out at them, determined
to defend its home. “Rey,” Hank yelped, “run for it!”
“Do you think I wouldn't?” Rey was
well head of him. “Ok, so that wasn't the right tree.”
“No kidding.” Hank finally slowed
down, panting. “Let's find...something. Can't run like
this...anymore. Not in my...old age.”
Rey grinned and patted his back.
“You'll never be that old, Hank.”
“Thanks, kid.” He sighed and shook
his head. “Let's take this one.” He grabbed at a tree that was
right behind him. “It's kind of short, but it might work. At least
it won't put a hole through the ceiling.”
“Yeah, let's take that one.” Rey
looked up into the rapidly-advancing pink and purple twilight. “I
don't want to be out in these woods after dark. I'm not in the mood
to be dinner for a bear who decided to take a break from
hibernation.”
“Me, either.” Hank shook the tree
to make sure it wasn't an apartment building for birds before cutting
it down with the ax as quickly as they could.
They arrived in the Bowery shortly
after dark had fallen over the island of Manhattan. This time, Finn
and Leia awaited them on the porch, along with the other two trees.
Rey could hear Gene Autry singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
on Luke's old upright Zenith radio with the lighted dials in the
living room.
Finn burst out laughing the moment they
dragged the tree out of the truck bed. “What is that, a baby tree?
Where's the rest of it?”
“This is all of it.” Hank glared at
him. “It was getting dark! This was the best we could do with the
time we had!”
“It's too short.” Leia made a face.
“It looks like you cut down a bush.” She came down the steps and
reached for it, giving it a good shake. A pile of needles drifted to
the ground in a green and brown shower. “And it's too dry. It would
never last a week, much less a whole season.”
“We can't go back out into the
wilderness!” Rey groaned. “It's too dark! Not to mention, we'd
hit massive rush hour traffic near the factories in Brooklyn.”
Finn frowned. “But we need a tree.
The open house party is tomorrow!”
“Fine.” Hank shouldered the ax
again. “Let's get a tree.” He tossed the shorter tree on the
porch with the other two rejects.
“Hank,” Rey began as they climbed
into the Falcon again, “we can't go back out to the woods now...”
“We're not going to. I know the
perfect place to get a tree.” He gave her that infamous little
smirk that always meant he was up to something. “Trust me.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“I don't know how you did it, dear.
This is the perfect Christmas tree.”
Leia hung the beautiful clear glass
ball that was banded by pink and gold glitter on a low branch before
reaching up to kiss her husband. Hank had just finished plugging in
their new red and yellow plastic glowing star. “This is a beautiful
tree. It's just the right kind of full, and the star went on
perfectly. You didn't even fall off the chair.”
Hank rolled his eyes, but he was
grinning. “When have I ever fallen off the chair when putting the
star on?”
“Not the star, but you did fall off a
chair while hanging an ornament once.” Luke chuckled as he hung the
plastic and lead icicles. “You broke the chair and had to hold an
ice pack on your head for an hour while the rest of us finished the
tree.”
The kids all giggled as they placed
glistening metallic balls and painted plastic and wooden Santas and
angels on the branches. “That was smart, Hank.” Rey nudged him.
“Very graceful.”
“Aw, stuff it in your ear, young
one,” the older man muttered.
“I think it's the most beautiful tree
we've ever had.” Kaydel clipped a pretty pink and red cardinal with
a feathery tail to a branch. “And it smells good, too!”
Poe dug his nose into the branches.
“Ooh, yeah! Like Central Park in the winter.” Baby tried to bat
at a pink glass fish her little paw could reach.
Hank stepped back with Rey. “Looks
good, doesn't it, kid?” He leaned over her ear. “Do you think we
should tell them it came from the Christmas tree lot on Delancy
Street?”
She shook her head, grinning ear to
ear. “Nahh. I can tell you one thing, though.” She waved her hand
at the miniature forest of pines on the porch. “I'll bet there
aren't too many other people in the Bowery who can claim they have
their very own woods right outside their front door!”
The duo laughed and put their arms
around each other as they joined the others to finish decorating the
indoor tree.
